Grain refinement of Fe3Al-based iron aluminide fabricated using wire-arc additive manufacturing

Abstract

The preparation of Fe3Al-based iron aluminide compounds through WAAM presents significant potential for various applications. However, iron aluminide wire is difficult to prepare due to its inherent brittleness, twin (Fe + Al) wires forming is commonly used at present, this method tends to produce large columnar grain sizes owing to excessive heat input, which also constrains the performance of material. To address these challenges, this study proposed a method based on a single Fe3Al flux-cored wire and weaving arc deposition technique to refine the grain size and improve the mechanical properties through the addition of TiC particles. The mechanical properties and microstructure of as-prepared Fe3Al were also investigated to reveal the strengthening mechanism. In short, this research provided new insight for preparing iron-aluminum compounds through WAAM.